'It's alright. As long as I can buy the inkstone, that would be fine too.'
On reaching the stall opposite, Ma Xing spotted the inkstone, and her eyes lit up, but soon a surprised expression appeared on her face.
Just beside the inkstone was a knife, identical to one present at Jiang's Antique Stall.
'Was Guo Jin talking about this knife or... was he talking about the knife at Jiang's...'
Ma Xing was in a dilemma. After thinking long and hard, she decided to buy the knife.
But instead of buying the inkstone right away, she pretended to look through other items before picking out a few.
A bracelet, a ring, the knife, and the inkstone.
The stall owner stared at Ma Xing with an uninterested expression.
"Boss, how much for these?" Ma Xing asked with a neutral face.
"The bracelet is for 2000 yuan, the ring is 1000 yuan, the knife is 500 yuan, and the inkstone is 1500 yuan."
"Eh? Boss, you are asking for too much! Lower the price of the bracelet!" Ma Xing completely omitted the topic of her interest.
"2000 yuan is still a discount, woman. This bracelet is from the Qin Dynasty and..." The stall blabbered on.
Ma Xing suspiciously stared at the stall owner. "No... whenever a stall owner says those words... it's definitely a scam! I don't want the bracelet anymore! Just give me the ring for 200 yuan, the knife for 100 yuan, and the inkstone... forget it... It's too expensive!"
To make her act conniving, she even took out the 1000 yuan bills.
"Hey! Hey! Why are you being so angry? How much do you have? Tell me. And I will give you a discount." The stall owner saw 1000 yuan and became greedy.
The Jiang Antique Stall owner keeps snatching business from everyone on the antique street.
He hasn't made a sale for the past 3 days! Now seeing 1000 yuan, how can he let go?
"Hm... then... give me this ring, bracelet, knife, and inkstone for 1000 yuan. " Ma Xing threw the bait, acting puzzled and uncertain.
Worried that Ma Xing would withdraw his offer, he agreed, "Alright!"
Ma Xing was secretly delighted, but she kept the mask of uncertainty all the time.
Even after she had bought everything and left with the items, she couldn't believe it.
An inkstone that was worth 50,000 yuan was in her hand!
'Now I need to find a way to sell it.'
With an excited expression, she entered an antique appraiser's shop and presented her antiques to the master appraiser.
The appraiser master named Dong Nan examined everything with a calm expression.
"I will give you 400 yuan for the bracelet, 1000 yuan for the ring, and for the knife... I will give you 2000 yuan."
Ma Xing didn't know if the appraiser was even lying or telling the true value, but since she knew about Insktone's true value, she held her breath.
"For the inkstone... I will give you 4000 yuan."
As Dong Nan said those words, he was delighted. He had reeled in big fish today!
The inkstone belonged to the Qing Dynasty, and the knife belonged to the Xia Dynasty. If sold together, they could exceed the value of 500,000 yuan!
To buy it for less than 8000 yuan is a huge bargain. With a look at Ma Xing's attire, he knew that she was unaware of the true value, so why not take advantage, huh?
"Thank you, boss. I am not interested in selling." Ma Xing stood up with a calm expression.
Seeing her leave, Dong Nan panicked but acted calm. "I see you are a lone woman, and hence I was acting generous! How about this: I will give 10,000 yuan for everything?"
"No need." Ma Xing paused before replying, "I know the true value of everything. I was just testing whether you are honest or not. I got my answer; I will leave first."
Though Ma Xing's words weren't threatening, Dong Nan took them as one, and his face paled.
Till now, he had used this method to scam many people; if it gets out, then...
He even mistakenly thought that Ma Xing was some hidden expert.
"Miss, please stop! I... I will pay you 600,000 yuan for everything and 100,000 yuan for keeping silent!" His heart was bleeding, but thinking about his reputation, he backed down.
Ma Xing was stunned. 700,000 yuan? It was an amount she never even dared to think about!
Suppressing the urge to accept, she decided to push her luck. "1 million yuan and you won't scam anyone else."
Dong Nan agreed with a smile, even though his smile was worse than crying.
When 700,000 yuan was transferred to Ma Xing's account, she felt as if she were in a dream!